Aston Villa presentation

Aston Villa Odds

Aston Villa betting odds have always been a popular choice with bettors. With their inconsistent form and unpredictable results, they’re an exciting choice in the betting world.

With Villa experiencing a period of decline, Aston Villa relegation odds have been popular. Whilst odds on Aston Villa to be relegated are common, Aston Villa odds for promotion are also worth considering.

As well as on-the-pitch fortunes, what goes on behind the scenes can also be the subject of odds. With Villa’s reputation for hiring and firing on a regular basis, Aston Villa manager odds and manager betting are a common choice.

In high profile matches, certain markets can be subject to bookmaker offers. For example, in the Second City derby, Aston Villa v Birmingham City can be the subject of bookmaker promotions, such as bet365’s in play offer.

Aston Villa History

Aston Villa are a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. One of the most successful teams in English football, Aston Villa began the 2016/2017 season in the English second tier, the Championship.

The history of Aston Villa Football Club begins in 1874. Jack Hughes, Walter Price, William Scattergood and Frederick Matthews were members of the Villa Cross Wesleyan Chapel and they were the instigators in the foundation of Aston Villa.

In 1876, the club moved to Wellington Road and four years later the club won their first trophy, the Birmingham Senior Cup.

The first major trophy in Aston Villa FC history came in 1887, with the club winning the FA Cup for the first time. The following season, Aston Villa became founder members of the Football League with William McGregor, an Aston Villa director, founding this new English football system.

Aston Villa became the most successful English football club at that time. The club won five First Division titles and three FA Cups before moving to Aston Lower Grounds. Aston Lower Grounds is Villa’s current home, the Aston Villa supporters gave the ground its name of Villa Park.

Aston Villa’s success continued into the 20th century, and they club won another FA Cup in 1920. However, following the great success the club had enjoyed, Villa began to slide down the table, eventually resulting in their relegation to the Second Division in 1936.

The club regained the First Division place before the Football League was suspended for the duration of the Second World War, as it had been throughout World War One. When the Football League calendar resumed, Villa began a rebuilding process.

However, Aston Villa’s next trophy didn’t arrive until the 1956/1957 season. Villa broke the record for the most FA Cup wins with their seventh trophy after beating Manchester United in the final.

Unfortunately for Villa, the club couldn’t replicate their cup success in the league. Just two seasons after winning their seventh FA Cup, the club were relegated once again.

It was another short stay in the Second Division however. Joe Mercer took over the Aston Villa manager role and led the club to a Second Division title, and with it promotion back to the top tier.

In 1960, Aston Villa won the inaugural League Cup. Again, though, their league form couldn’t match their performances in cup competitions. Joe Mercer left in 1964, and in 1967 Aston Villa suffered a third relegation.

Serious financial problems hit the club around this time. Debts were increasing and the Aston Villa hierarchy struggled to pay them off. Pat Matthews bought the club, and appointed Doug Ellis as chairman but it came too late to save Aston Villa’s Second Division place and in the 1969/1970 season Villa were relegated to the third tier for the first time in their history.

The 1971/1972 season saw Aston Villa break the total points record in the Third Division, gaining 70 points that saw the club storm to the Third Division title. Ron Saunders was given the manager’s job in 1974, and he continued to develop the Aston Villa recovery.

A season after his appointment, Saunders led his side to another League Cup victory and promotion back into the First Division. Villa continued to improve and as the 1980’s began, Aston Villa won a seventh First Division title, and earned them entry into the most prestigious European club cup competition, the European Cup.

Ron Saunders quit his role midway through the 1981/1982 campaign. The Aston Villa assistant manager, Tony Barton, took over and he led the club to winning the European Cup, beating Bayern Munich in the final 1-0.

The club’s European success continued in the following season, when Aston Villa beat Barcelona to win the European Super Cup.

Again, after a period of success, Aston Villa couldn’t sustain their good form. As the 1980’s progressed, the team’s performances dropped and in 1987 the club suffered relegation once more.

Immediate promotion was earned under the guidance of new Aston Villa manager Graham Taylor, and in their first season back in the top flight, Villa finished as runners-up.

In 1992, the Premier League was founded and Aston Villa were one of the founding members of this new division. Aston Villa’s reputation of performing well in the cup competitions but average in their league performances continued throughout the 1990’s. Three managers came and went amidst inconsistent league finishes, but the club won two more League Cups and qualification into the UEFA Cup.

Aston Villa also took part in the last ever FA Cup Final played at the old Wembley, but were beaten 1-0 by Chelsea.

After a spell of different managers in charge, David O’Leary took the Aston Villa manager job. However, O’Leary left the club and Doug Ellis, chairman and biggest shareholder, sold his stake in Aston Villa. The club was then bought by Randy Lerner, who also owned the NFL side the Cleveland Browns.

Martin O’Neill was the manager of Villa, and it appeared that Aston Villa could go on and replicate their past glories. The club reached the League Cup Final in 2010, but were beaten 2-1 by Leicester City.

The optimism that surrounded the club quickly began to fade. O’Neill resigned and his replacement Gerard Houllier had to resign due to his ill health. Alex McLeish then took over, but his appointment wasn’t a popular one with either set of Birmingham football fans as McLeish was manager of Birmingham City at the time he was approached. McLeish’s appointment was the first time a manager had left Birmingham City for Aston Villa directly.

McLeish wasn’t a success at Aston Villa, and the club only narrowly escaped relegation in the 2011/2012 season. McLeish was sacked, and replaced with Paul Lambert.

Amidst these managerial changes, the finances of the club were also in a dire strait. With financial losses of over £50 million, Randy Lerner put the club up for sale. These problems off the pitch affected the players on the pitch and Lambert was fired after his side had only managed to score 12 goals in 25 matches, an unwanted Premier League record.

Tim Sherwood became the latest in a long line of Aston Villa managers, and again Villa only just escaped the relegation trapdoor. Sherwood also led the club to another FA Cup Final, but they were beaten once more.

Despite Tim Sherwood seemingly stabilising matters on the pitch, he lost his job during the 2015/2016 season. Remi Garde took over, but he didn’t last the season either. Eric Black, a member of the backroom staff, took over as caretaker manager but after a series of near misses, the club were relegated to the Championship. For the first time in almost thirty years the club were now playing second tier football.

Before the 2016/2017 season began, Roberto Di Matteo was given the manager’s job.

Badge

The Aston Villa badge has undergone a series of changes since an Aston Villa crest was first introduced in 1956.

From 1956 to 1969, the Aston Villa football badge consisted of a shield shape featuring the the Aston Villa logo of a rampant lion. In 1969, the badge was altered and the shield was removed.

This design lasted until 1973, when a new Aston Villa club crest was designed. This new badge consisted of a circle shape coloured brown on the outside, with Aston Villa FC printed around the circumference, and blue colouring inside containing a brown rampant lion.

In 1992, a new Villa badge was revealed. This marked a return to the shield shape, with claret and blue stripes behind a gold coloured image of the lion, and the word ‘Prepared’ featuring in a banner underneath the shield.

From 2000 to 2007, another badge was used. Similar to the previous design, this Aston Villa club badge was again a shield shape with a golden lion on top of claret and blue stripes, but the banner underneath was removed and the word ‘Prepared’ featured in the shield itself.

This badge underwent another update in 2007. The claret stripes were removed leaving a blue background, with AVFC written above the rampant lion and ‘Prepared’ featuring underneath.

In 2016, this badge was updated once more. The lion in this new design now features claws, and ‘Prepared’ has been removed.

Colours

Aston Villa kit colours are famous for being claret and blue. During Aston Villa’s time of success in the early 1900’s, other English football teams took inspiration from the Aston Villa colours and adopted them for themselves, including Burnley and West Ham United.

It wasn’t until the 1897 season that Aston Villa began wearing claret and blue. Before this, the club wore a variety of different colours and styles.

Between 1874 and 1877, Aston Villa wore red and blue hooped shirts, with white shorts and blue socks. This kit was changed for the 1877/1878 season, when the club adopted the colours of black and white hooped shirts, white shorts and black socks.

The kit changed again, and from 1878 to 1880, the club wore plain black shirts with white shorts and black socks. From 1880 to 1882, the club retained the colours of the shorts and socks, but the jersey itself changed from black to claret.

A whole new design was introduced and used between 1882 and 1884. For this period, the club wore blue and white hooped shirts, worn with white shorts and dark blue socks.

A complete change in shirt colour followed in 1884. The Aston Villa players wore green shirts, worn with white shorts and black socks. This was followed by a white shirt featuring red patches, called ‘piebald’, along with the same white shorts and black socks.

In 1886, the Aston Villa team wore black and white striped shirts with white shorts and black socks, and the season after the Aston Villa kit colours changed to blue and brown striped shirts with white shorts and brown socks.

1887 saw the arrival of claret and blue, and the club wear these colours today. Styles have alternated, some seasons have featured claret and blue quartered shirts, or half claret half blue shirts, but the standard Aston Villa kit is claret shirts with blue sleeves, white shorts and claret and blue socks.

Aston Villa Stadium

The current Aston Villa stadium is Villa Park. Villa Park is one of few English stadiums to be awarded a UEFA 5 star rating.

The Aston Villa football stadium is the largest football ground in the East Midlands, and in the top ten of largest football grounds in England. The Aston Villa stadium capacity is 42,682.

The Aston Villa stadium layout features four all seater stands. These are the Holte End, the Doug Ellis Stand, the North Stand and the Trinity Road Stand.

The Holte End is a two tiered structure and underwent reconstruction during the 1994/1995 season. This stand generates the most match atmosphere, with the most vocal Aston Villa supporters seated here.

The Trinity Road Stand is a three tiered structure, and the largest stand at Villa Park. As well as seating for fans, this stand also is home to the director’s boxes and executive areas.

The North Stand is the oldest stand at Villa Park. A two-tiered structure, this upper tier features claret coloured seats with the bottom tier housing blue seats. Aston Villa stadium plans include the rebuilding of this stand to increase the capacity to around 50,000.

The Doug Ellis Stand, named after the former Aston Villa owner and chairman, was originally known as the Witton Lane Stand. This also features two-tiers, and underwent a refurbishment in 1996.

Supporters

Aston Villa are one of the biggest supported clubs in England, and have a good following across the globe. There are many branches of Aston Villa supporters clubs in a variety of different countries. The Aston Villa Supporters Trust maintains strong links with the football club itself, and works to bring the club and the fans closer together.

Aston Villa supporters have a huge rivalry with neighbours Birmingham City. When these two clubs meet, the game is known as the Birmingham derby or the Second City derby. West Bromwich Albion are also fierce rivals, with Coventry City and Wolverhampton Wanderers being less so.

Ownership

The Aston Villa owner is classed as Recon Sports Limited, with the owner of the company Tony Jiantong Xia holding the position of chairman.

Xia Jiantong bought the club from Randy Lerner for an estimated £76 million in 2016. Lerner himself had bought the club in 2006, buying amongst others Doug Ellis’s shares and Lerner became the owner-chairman of Aston Villa.

Doug Ellis started buying shares in Aston Villa Football Club during the 1960’s. He became chairman of the club in 1968, and the majority shareholder in 1982.

Stats

Aston Villa stats begin with their all time leading appearance maker. Charlie Aitken holds this record, making 657 appearances for Villa between 1959 and 1976.

Two other players have made more than 500 appearances for the club. These are Billy Walker, who played in 531 games between 1919 and 1934, and Gordon Cowans who made 506 appearances over two spells at the club from 1976 to 1985 and then again from 1988 to 1991.

The Aston Villa record goalscorer is Billy Walker. Walker scored 244 goals in 531 games for the club. One other player scored over 200 goals for Aston Villa, Harry Hampton found the net 242 times for the club between 1904 and 1920.

Aston Villa’s all time record transfer signing is Darren Bent. Bent cost the club £18 million with the fee rising to £24 million from Sunderland in 2011.

The highest transfer fee Aston Villa have received is £32.5 million, a fee paid by Liverpool for Christian Benteke in 2015.

Aston Villa’s first ever match was against Aston Brook St Mary’s in 1874, a game that Villa won 1-0. Aston Villa’s first ever league match was against Wolverhampton Wanderers in 1888, the match ending in a 1-1 draw.

The record Football League win for Aston Villa came in 1892 when the club beat Accrington 12-2. The club’s record Premier League win came against Wimbledon, Villa winning 7-1 in 1995.

Aston Villa’s all time record defeat came in the Premier League in 2012 when Chelsea beat them 8-0.

The highest league attendance at Villa Park was 69,492. This number of spectators watched Aston Villa play Wolverhampton Wanderers in 1949. Since Villa Park turned into an all seater stadium, the highest attendance came in 2010 when a crowd of 42,788 people saw Villa take on Manchester United.

Other Aston Villa records include the all time record for goals scored in a top flight season, 128 Villa goals were scored in their 1930/1931 campaign.

Aston Villa have also scored more goals in the FA Cup than any other team, with over 800 goals so far in the competition.

Aston Villa Players

Aston Villa players past and present have included some of the best known names in English football. Archie Hunter, one of the first Aston Villa players, was also one of the first footballers to be a household name.

The English Football Hall of Fame features two ex Aston Villa players, Peter Schmeichel and Danny Blanchflower.

Other former Aston Villa football players who have won individual awards include Andy Gray, David Platt and Paul McGrath, who won the PFA Player of the Year award. Andy Gray, James Milner, Gary Shaw and Ashley Young have all been recipients of the PFA Young Player of the Year award.

The current Aston Villa players list consists of 27 first team squad members. There are also nine Aston Villa players out on loan.

Aston Villa Manager

The current Aston Villa manager is Roberto Di Matteo. Di Matteo took over in the summer of 2016.

George Ramsay is Aston Villa’s first, longest serving and most successful in all of Aston Villa manager history. Ramsay managed the club 1,327 matches from 1884 to 1926, winning six First Division titles and six FA Cups. Ramsay also holds the record for the best all time win percentage with 49.59%.

Tony Barton was the first Villa manager to win a European trophy, winning both the European Cup and the European Super Cup between 1982 and 1984.

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